<i>Fusarium equiseti</i> as one of the main <i>Fusarium</i><i></i> species causing wilt and root rot of chickpeas in Morocco

Abstract

Fungal isolates of Fusarium were collected from symptomatic chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) plants growing in fields within Souk Tlat commune in the Gharb region. Morphological and molecular characterizations were performed of the fungal isolate N3 obtained from a chickpea plant. PCR amplification and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer using the primers ITS1 and ITS4 was applied to identify the fungal isolate N3. The maximum similarity index of the fungus was found to be 99.33% with Fusarium equiseti (accession no. MT111122). In the pathogenicity test, both chickpea seed dip inoculation and soil infestation by the spore suspension of Fusarium isolate were adopted. Four weeks after chickpea seed inoculation, few plants emerged and those that emerged were stunted. A high percentage of inoculated seeds did not emerge and showed accentuated rot symptoms. Eight weeks after sowing seeds in infested soil, the obtained chickpea seedlings displayed root necrosis, browning at the crown, and wilting. In addition, these plants showed a foliar alteration index of 0.395. The re-isolation was positive for different parts of chickpea plants for both seed and soil inoculation. Fusarium equiseti isolate decreased the length of the root and aerial parts, and number of leaves and branches of the inoculated chickpea plants either by seed inoculation or soil infestation with values of 0.91 cm and 19.73 cm, 1.29 cm and 19.44 cm, 1.11 and 18.66, and 0.0 and 2.08 respectively, whereas the corresponding values for the control plants were 27.16 and 28.33 cm, 29.05 and 31.05 cm, 24.21 and 25.66, and 3.50 and 3.11, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of F. equiseti on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in Morocco.

Response of Alternaria and Fusarium species to low precipitation in a drought-tolerant plant in Morocco

“…Another ambiguous case is the species Fusarium equiseti, a core taxon present in both roots and soil samples, with two ASVs correlated with low precipitation. F. equiseti has been shown to bene t plant growth in high-salt soils [33], but it also causes root rot in chickpeas in Morocco [34]. Therefore, it is challenging to determine from this study alone which taxa are bene cial or pathogens.…”

Exploring Microbial Rhizosphere Communities in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Apple Trees Using Amplicon Sequencing and Shotgun Metagenomics

“…In the case of fungi, Fusarium and Penicillium were the most abundant genera, followed by Mortierella, which was mainly abundant in samples from the rhizosphere of asymptomatic trees. Different Fusarium species have been documented as saprophytes [66], opportunists [67], and phytopathogens, meaning they are capable of causing diseases in plants such as vascular wilting, root rot, and stem decay, which results in a negative impact on the health and yield of crops [68][69][70][71]. Moreover, Penicillium is a common necrotrophicsaprophytic genus that might play an important role in diseased roots since it has been able to exhibit a variety of lifestyles, including mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism [72].…”